Sunday, May 24, 2009

Answering Back

Arthur Rimbaud.Answering Back

“For this anthology, Answering Back, I invited the best of our contemporary poets to select a poem, or poem in translation, from a poet from the past which they would like to answer in some way.”—Carol Ann Duffy, editor, Answering Back: Living poets reply to the poetry of the past (2007)

After reading this Carol Ann Duffy’s anthology, I picked a poem by Gregory Woods entitled “Rimbaud in Harar” from his book May I Say Nothing (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1998). And then I did the “Answering Back” exercise and came up with my poem entitled “Verlaine in Prison.” I looked at young Rimbaud from the point of view of Paul Verlaine—and how their relationship ended in violence. Below is Gregory Woods’ poem—and how I answered back. Not only to him—but to Rimbaud and Verlaine as well.

Rimbaud in Harar—by Gregory Woods

I used to have the kind of body menWould sell their souls for, and was heartened when

One did. A bourgeois poet gave me doshFor licking me (I never used to wash)

And for the things I wrote. To tell the truthI merely simulated the uncouth

But he was mesmerized. He loved my verseMy arse, my filthy turn of phrase and, worse